The invention herein described is designed to enhance the operation of oil pick-up devices which are called upon to operate in freezing temperature environments in which pieces of ice as well as fluid surface areas are found to be coated with undesirable fluids such as oil or the like. The invention is designed to enhance and operate in combination with a Fluid Separation Device of the type described in Yates U.S. Pat. No. 3,576,257, wherein a drum-like member is described which provides a means to pick up oil or other immiscible liquids from a fluid environment. The device described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,576,257 operates by utilizing an inherent characteristic of oil to selectively adhere to an oleophilic surface rotated through the oil while picking up a relatively negligible amount of water or other substance from which the oil is desired to be removed.
While the invention operates most desirably in concert with a Yates type recovery device, it should be understood that it has similar utility in connection with other oil pick-up devices, inter alia those described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,702,297, "Oil Skimming Device and Method" and 3,865,730 "Oil Spill Cleanup", and so-called "endless belt" type devices.
As man's quest for oil becomes more intense, his activities in prospecting and drilling lead into increasingly hostile environments and it has been found necessary to provide oil-pick-up devices which will operate to quickly contain and pick up oil spills so as to minimize ecological damage and commercial losses that might otherwise be sustained, since oil recovered in most instances is industrially usable. By way of background, and to further illustrate the prior art of which applicants are aware, the following patents are cited:
U.s. pat. No. 3,536,199 (Cornelius) "Fire Extinguishing Oil Slick Separator" PA1 U.s. pat. No. 3,358,838 (Kosar) "Oil Skimming Device" PA1 U.s. pat. No. 2,474,018 (Verner) "Oil Skimming Device" PA1 U.s. pat. No. 3,096,278 (Francom) "Scraper Assembly for Filters" PA1 U.s. pat. No. 3,338,414 (Lefke) "Liquid Skimming Device PA1 U.s. pat. No. 3,614,873 (Cole) "Freezing Oil Spills" PA1 U.s. pat. No. 3,702,296 (Maksim) "Oil Skimming Device and Method" PA1 U.s. pat. No. 3,314,540 (Lane) "Removal of Oil Films from Water"
It is apparent to applicants that none of the devices disclosed in the aforementioned patents utilize and describe an effective and efficient means for operating in an ice-clogged environment where part or substantially all of the surface of water contains a mixture of oil and broken oil-covered ice.